Pavement Rehabilitation

PAVEMENT REHABILITATION

McAlester Regional Airport Runway 2-22

MCALESTER REGIONAL-REHABILITATE RUNWAY 2-20

McAlester Regional Airport Runway 2-20 was constructed in 1951. The original concrete had reached the end of its useful life, and full depth reconstruction was completed in 2019. The project won the Oklahoma Concrete Pavement Association Gold Award for airports, their top honor. Interstate Highway Construction was one of the most impressive contractors we have worked with, and the end product is excellent. Like many FAA projects, the funding was not released to the project until September. Winter construction adds difficulties to construction due to temperature and humidity requirements in the FAA specifications. Even during a tough winter, the project was completed using 70 of the 105 days allotted.

LBR coordinated with airport staff and learned of the need for a temporary runway while construction was on going. The parallel taxiway was marked and lighted as a temporary runway and was used during construction.

The project was funded through an FAA discretionary grant, an OAC grant, and local matching funds. LBR provided support during all aspects of the project from planning, design, construction administration, grant administration, inspection, testing, and ultimately closeout. The project was a great success from start to finish and will serve McAlester and the surrounding areas for decades to come.

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Stillwater Regional Airport Runway 4-22

STILLWATER REGIONAL-REHABILITATE RUNWAY 4-22

The Stillwater Regional Airport Runway 4-22 Rehabilitation won the Oklahoma Asphalt Pavement Association’s top award for 2020. This project was completed by Haskell Lemon Construction Company. Commercial service brings some added challenges to a project. While 4-22 is a secondary runway, the intersection with the primary runway, 17-35, had to remain open each day for commercial service. This area was completed at night, in under the 20 days allotted.

Runway 4-22 was in poor condition prior to the project. Cracking was extensive on the runway. LBR has had great success in recent years with correcting these issues on asphalt runways. For larger cracks, mastic crack seal is used. It is a strong, flexible material with aggregate, that bonds well to the adjacent asphalt. The smaller cracks are filled with crack sealer. Then, paving fabric is installed. This method works very well, especially when an overlay is installed. The northeast end of Runway 4-22 was cross sloped, not meeting the FAA’s crown criteria. This project introduced a crown with a large leveling course. The project not only fixed the surface conditions but added strength as well. This 75’ x 5,001’ runway can serve jet traffic, as well as the large OSU flight school traffic.

New LED runway lights and signs were installed during the project as well. FAA supplemental funding was used for this work. Supplemental funding is paid for by 100% FAA share with no local match. It is highly competitive and knowing how to present priority projects to FAA can help position a client for funding. This project was the only Oklahoma airport to receive supplemental funding in the first round of funding in 2018. In the second round, only 3 Oklahoma airports received funding, and Vinta, an LBR client, received funding for a runway rehabilitation project. This year, Ponca City Regional Airport, another LBR client received $5,777,778 in supplemental funding. They were the only Oklahoma airport in this round. While we cannot guarantee funding availability, LBR will position you well with strong support documentation in order to have the best shot at 100% funding.

Stillwater Regional Airport Runway 17-35

STILLWATER REGIONAL-REHABILITATE RUNWAY 17-35

LBR was a strong influence on positioning Stillwater Regional Airport to receive Federal Stimulus money in 2009. In a struggling economy, Congress had approved a stimulus package to help boost jobs. Funding became available to airports that showed a great need, and an ability to complete the project in a timely manner. The main runway at Stillwater Regional was near the end of its useful life. With the traffic and growth of the airport, the project was attractive for the potential funding. LBR and the City of Stillwater partnered together to show that the project could be designed and ready to construct in less than 3 months.

Construction began even quicker than the aggressive schedule that was presented. TTK Construction began work on the concrete overlay of the runway. Like many older runways, the pavement was cross sloped instead of crowned like the standard is today. A large amount of asphalt was placed to create a crown and help with drainage. Then, a concrete overlay was placed. The runway was saw cut grooved, again to help with drainage. The project was completed early and under budget.

This project helped Stillwater Regional continue to grow and position themselves for the new daily commercial traffic. The ability of LBR to complete the design and project administration in a timely and professional manner made all the difference. The project had a total grant amount of just under $5,000,000. It is a great example of how the right airport consultant can really improve your airport and position it for grant money.

Chandler Regional Runway Crack Before Construction

Chandler Regional Runway After Construction (Same Area as Before Picture)

CHANDLER REGIONAL

A recently completed LBR project, January of 2014, at Chandler Regional Airport involved rehabilitating Runway 17-35. Runway pavement exhibited distresses due to seasonal environmental conditions and load bearing. Major longitudinal and transverse cracking and alligator cracking were evident. Repair of the pavement was necessary to extend the life of the pavement and to increase pavement strength.

There was some major cracking (up to 8” wide as shown on the picture above) that needed to be addressed before an overlay was done. LBR came up with a design to deal with the existing cracks based on size. Any damaged pavement around the large cracks (3” and greater) was sawed away to provide vertical faces for the full depth concrete that was to be installed in them. Large cracks were saw cut, cleaned, compacted, and filled with PCC pavement. For the cracks from 1” to 3”, a mastic crack seal specification was used. We have found this method to work exceptionally well for cracks of that size. The remaining ½“ to 1” cracks were sealed to finish preparation of the existing pavement for the overlay.

Low elongation paving fabric was installed on the runway after the crack preparation process was completed. The paving fabric greatly increases the life of pavement. A 3” overlay was installed next. The second picture above shows the final product. This picture was taken in the same area as the first picture. By correctly fixing the issues with the existing cracks, this overlay will produce a much greater benefit and life. The added life and strength added by this project is vital at an airport that gets daily jet traffic.

The project was funded through a coordination of the OAC and the City of Chandler. The total construction cost was just under one million dollars.

Pre-Construction Photos of Shifting Concrete Panels

Construction Photo of Saw Blades Stuck

CUSHING REGIONAL

LBR got a call from the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission and the City of Cushing asking for help when their runway up-heaved (blew up) in multiple places. Due to the large rainfall and heat of the summer, the runway was under a great amount of stress. It up-heaved in multiple places and threatened to in many more. LBR designed the project and distributed it to 3 excellent contractors for bids. Since it was an emergency, the normal advertising/bid process did not have to be followed. The proposal for the project had three criteria; construction cost, construction time needed, and start date. Within a week, we had a low bid and construction time selected, Contech, Inc. They started the job the next week and finished installing expansion joints in four places along the runway to alleviate the pressure (see the saw blades that got stuck due to the intense pressure). They finished in 13 working days. The project was 20% under budget and 5 days early. The runway is now back open and safe for use. The expansion joints will help this from happening ever again.